On the eve of S.H. Raza’s 91st birthday, Vadehra Art Gallery presents Antardhwani, an exhibition of the Modernist Master’s most recent works. The exhibition consists of 25 new works executed by the artist after his return to India in 2010.

In these works, Raza remains preoccupied with certain geometric forms which for him encapsulate both the beginning of life and the void that surrounds us before and after that. These geometric forms are for Raza ‘the mapping out of a metaphorical space in the mind.’ In Antardhwani, Raza revisits the same point (the bindu) in search of a new ‘impression’ of it.

Along with exhibiting the new works, Vadehra Art Gallery in association with The Raza Foundation will be releasing two important books as a tribute to the oldest living master of modern Indian art. The first book titled ‘My Dear’ contains the long correspondence that Raza conducted with his old friend and senior artist Krishen Khanna. The letters reveal in intimate terms the ethos, anxieties and the emerging poetics of the sixties as also the growth of the two important modernist painters.

The second book is an anthology titled ‘Understanding Raza,’ which brings together some of the best, enlightening writings on Raza in English, French and Hindi. The book puts together the various insights and critical analyses of Raza’s work by some of the most important art critics and artists and looks at Raza’s rich body of work from many different points of view. It includes pieces by M.F. Husain, F.N. Souza, Ram Kumar, J. Swaminathan, Geeti Sen, Yashodhara Dalmia, Ranjit Hoskote, Geeta Kapur, Parth Mitter, Roobina Karode, Richard Bartholomew, Amrita Jhaveri, Avani Doshi, Jacques Lassaigne, Waldamer George, Rodalf Von Leyden, Nicolas Bourriad, Peter Osborne and Alain Bonfand.

Both books will be released on the eve of Raza’s 91st birthday (21 February) by H.E. François Richier, Ambassador of France to India, at Vadehra Art Gallery.